Paul,
To use Xgrid you have to program your own interface between the statistical
software and Xgrid. Stanford is running an experiment in biology that uses
Xgrid technology to distribute calculation jobs over the internet.
However, you don't need a Mac for grid computing. In fact it would be
cheaper to buy ordinary units and use Linux. CERN, the physics institute in
Geneva, is using Linux clusters for their computational needs and they are
processing huge amounts of data.

Stata comes as Universal binary and runs on Intel Macs (unlike SPSS), so
there shouldn't be compatibility issues.

My advice (and I am not at all an expert in grid computing) is to go with a
set of ordinary PCs and use Linux. However, if you have the money to buy
nice MacPros, there's nothing that speaks against them.

Raffael Himmelsbach

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